Mountainside Chats

 Yesterday I climbed Xianglu Feng or Incense Burner Peak. The tallest peak in Xiang Shan Park. Xiang Shan, or the Fragrant Hills, Park is located northwest of Beijing proper in the suburbs. I found my way there, yes--remarkably, using the bus system. I switched buses twice, taking three buses that brought me right to the gate of the park.

I started up Xianglu Peak not realizing it was the main one in the park, the one that the chairlift went to. The problem is, once you start up a mountain, you can't just turn around and go back not having made it to the top!

So I kept on trucking. My out of shape self painfully going up each step. Chinese mountains, it seems, all have convenient stone stairs built up the sides. So climbing a tourist mountain in China is basically like climbing a really, really tall stair case. Despite that, it's still a lot of work. 

It was good fun though and so in that way I was a tourist exploring a tourist site. Yet there were a lot of Beijingers climbing the mountain too, all taking advantage of the weather. It was such a beautiful day, you just couldn't resist it. A little hot, though, at about 35 degrees Celsius or 95 F and humid. Oof. 

Though I was just one person climbing the mountain, I was climbing at the pace of a bunch of other people, so it was like we were all in this together. Talking to each other, commenting on the heat, giving each other the ol' Chinese words of support "add oil!" or "jia you!" 

I think that's one of my favorite things about China, the number of single serving friends you can make anywhere. While in the US I think you can make single serving friends, or people you meet and talk to but then never meet again, it's much more difficult. For example, the only place it happens on a regular basis is on a plane. In China, however, it seems like the defenses are all much lower, or there's a lot less holding back--people are less hesitant and more willing to talk to strangers. I used to think it was just because I was a foreigner who could speak Chinese, and that would draw someone in to make a single serving friend. But having been here for a while I realize that it happens between Chinese a lot too. 

To give you an idea of how people are much less hesitant to start talking, the questions that are acceptable in China are about health, money, family, love life, basically anything is acceptable. So it's not uncommon for a Chinese person to ask me about how much it costs for me to live here or if I'm married. Any of those things are acceptable. In listening to Chinese talking with other Chinese who they might not know, the same questions might be asked. 

In preparation for the Olympics, the Chinese government has published a list of questions they are not allowed to ask foreigners who have come to watch the games (from danwei.org). In my 557 meter summit and descent (or hill climb), I still managed to make plenty of single serving friends, despite that statement. 

That has just been something I have come to love, and I hope the government doesn't try to make it completely obsolete. Though the questions aren't as invasive (in western standards) as they were over a year ago when I was here. It's still one of my favorite parts of being here, and because of that I often start up the chat first. No matter where I am, on the bus, subway, street, or mountainside I try to make a single serving friend or two. And the Chinese are more than willing to have a friendly chat.